The Chilean rebellion of 1973, and the subsequent counter-revolutionary terror of Pinochet, is presented by most histories as a tragic fait accompli, a dire warning of the unstoppable power of US imperialism.

But the revolutionary situation that developed during the presidency of Salvador Allende could have ended differently. The potential for surpassing the tepid reformist “socialism” of Allende towards real workers’ democracy was embodied in the cordones industriales, local workers’ councils which organised to defend the revolution and contest private ownership of industry and agriculture.